Adapter for Sony MS-to-SD memory cards?

[Turbo DV8]

I bought a Panasonic TH-50PC77U plasma TV which has a slot on the side for viewing .jpg images off a SD memory card. Problem is, all my Sony cameras use, of course, Sony memory sticks... some Pro and some Duo. Is anybody aware of some adapter which I can slide my MS into which will then fit into my TV's SD slot? I am thinking along the lines of something like the adapter Sony makes which will accept a tiny MS Pro Duo card, which can then be inserted into older Sony camera's which only accept the larger MS.

 

[binky]

I've only noticed the MS to CF converter that Sony makes. I think your best option might be to get a USB universal reader and drag the MS contents to an SD using your computer then put the SD into the TV. Kinda indirect, I know. Too bad they didn't put more slot types into the TV.

 

[Fallingwater]

I use on my PSP a device that converts MS to SD (and CF), but the other way around. The interfaces are different, so it's not just a matter of repositioning the contacts (as with the various flavours of SD); converters need dedicated hardware.

I've no idea where you could get a SD-to-MS converter. Most people just want to use generic, cheaper SD in place of the useless proprietary MS format, so converters for that exist. But you're the first person I've seen that wants to use MSs in a device that accepts SD... I don't think anyone makes converters for that (although I may be wrong).

 

[Minjin]

I use on my PSP a device that converts MS to SD (and CF), but the other way around. The interfaces are different, so it's not just a matter of repositioning the contacts (as with the various flavours of SD); converters need dedicated hardware.

I've no idea where you could get a SD-to-MS converter. Most people just want to use generic, cheaper SD in place of the useless proprietary MS format, so converters for that exist. But you're the first person I've seen that wants to use MSs in a device that accepts SD... I don't think anyone makes converters for that (although I may be wrong).

What exactly makes it useless? There are quite a few Sony phones, cameras, and portable video games out there. :thinking:

Cost differences between SD and MS are minimal. Compact Flash is far more worthy of scorn as only higher end SLRs are using it anymore and prices are pretty nutty as a result.

 

[Turbo DV8]

It was sort of destiny that I went down the MS path instead of SD. The first digital camera I owned was an old 2MP Sony that was a drop-off at an electronics recycling place I used to work. In the bag was a collection of MS's. When that camera took a dump a year later, I was left with several orphaned MS's ... and the decision whether to buy a new Sony camera, or a camera that took SD cards, and have to invest a significant bit more money on new SD cards. I chose the Sony route, and, for better or worse, the rest has been chiseled in stone ever since.

Barring the availability of a converter, anyone hazard a guess which of the following options would be better than the other as far as reproduction quality on my HD TV? (I don't think my HD TV will deliver true HD from flash memory ... only a couple of the very newest models tout that ability.) I can (1) use my camera's video cable which plugs into the TV's composite Video 3 input. Or, I can (2) as suggest by binky, plug my MS and SD cards into my card reader and dump the MS contents onto an SD, then plug the SD into the TV's SD slot. I know that a composite video input on a big screen TV is going to look pretty unimpressive, but anybody think dumping the MS onto SD then into the TV SD slot would provide any better quality?

On more thought ... let's talk about XD cards. Why does the fine print/warranty on XD cards imply XD cards will self-destruct in a relatively short time? As far as I know, Fuji and Olympus are the only manufacturers that use XD. I had a chance to get a Fuji camera once, but stayed away because I did not want to get locked into yet another proprietary format. The other reason I stayed away is because the warranty on XD cards is only one year, and on every other type it is five years. Not damning, mind you, but then I read in the XD card literature something to the effect that "XD cards will gradually lose their ability to retain information over time, and will eventually cease to work and become useless." I guess one could say that about any flash memory, but XD is the only type that explicitly goes out of their way to inform consumers of this, and backs it up with only a single year warranty. It did not inspire confidence. Hmmm, let's see ... buy into yet another proprietary flash memory that costs more and will self-destruct. Sounds like a plan!

 

[binky]

I bet you'd get better fidelity by putting an SD card into the TV, since it could use the .JPEG directly rather than analoging it over the composite cables. Just a guess, though. As another option, but involves spending money -- I know it's "drinking the Apple Kool-Aid" but if you've got an Apple computer your objective is super easy to accomplish with stunning results using an AppleTV box and iPhoto synchronization. I use that with a Sony 40" HD TV and the pics look amazing. You get to make slideshows, with music, and other good stuff. I'd be interested in hearing from a Windows user if there's a similar solution that they're happy with, since I use both platforms.

 

[bruddamoke]

I doubt that you will find anything that directly adapts a MS to allow it to work in an SD slot. IIRC, MS sticks are thicker than SD cards.

 

[Fallingwater]

What exactly makes it useless? There are quite a few Sony phones, cameras, and portable video games out there.

You said that right: Sony phones, cameras and portable systems.
Everybody else uses SD for a reason: it's a relatively open standard, which makes it easier and cheaper to implement. But not Sony. Despite a history of pathetic failures in the field of proprietary formats, they still keep doing the same mistake every bloody time.
Since I hate proprietary formats with a passion I invested in a Neo-Pad for my PSP, which allows me to use SD and CF cards (microdrives give a timeout error, sadly). It also makes the console much more comfortable to hold.

Cost differences between SD and MS are minimal

No, they are not.
The cheapest 2GB MS I can find is about €18 on eBay, whereas the cheapest 2GB SD I can find is €12. Add €3 and you can get in the tiny MicroSD/TransFlash format, along with a SD adapter, and it's still cheaper than a 2GB MS.

Compact Flash is far more worthy of scorn as only higher end SLRs are using it anymore and prices are pretty nutty as a result.

It's not CF that's worthy of scorn - it's the DSLR manufacturers who for some reason refuse to change format. I don't see why DSLRs shouldn't use SD as well.

 

[Turbo DV8]

As a general rule, I tend to view proprietary formats with a bit of wariness, also. I had the free Sony camera with several MS, and when it broke, made the conscious choice to buy another Sony since I had the MS's already. I knew it was locking me into a proprietary format. That has been a two-edged sword. On the one hand, the old MS's are now pitifully, uselessly small in capacity, and I have had to buy new, larger capacity MS's anyway for the newer Sony cameras I have purchased!That is when I indeed found out that MS, barring a very good (and rare) sale, is definitely always more expensive than SD. So I pinched my pennies and ended up paying more in the long run. On the other hand, I have found the Sony cameras to be consistently heads-and-heels ahead of most other brands in terms of next-shot-delay and shutter lag. I played around with a few other brands of cameras and at first thought maybe they were broken, they took so long to focus and cycle. But I had just been spoiled by the Sony's. And this comes from a guy who once swore (and still do about other products) that I would "never" buy Sony because through my life I have just owned too many Sony products that failed prematurely not from poor design, but rather from Sony's apparent desire to source the cheapest components they can find, and then charge premium prices for the end product. Sony has very innovative, alluring and tempting features, but nearly everything Sony I ever owned failed prematurely because of some two bit part, when the same four bit part in another similar product of another brand might last me to this day. So far, my Sony cameras have not lived up to this reputation, and according to CR seem to have very good reliability. I have three Sony cameras made in Japan that I purchased about 1-2 years ago, right before Sony cameras pretty much began to all be made in China. Funny now all the made-in-China Sony models do not have the solid feel and heft anymore that my 1-2 year old Sony's do. What does this have to do with anything? :shrug:

 

[Fallingwater]

I have two Sony digicams as well which I bought old-stock for €50 each. Both are CDMavicas (so no MS cards): one is an old, cannon-like CD1000, the other a smaller CD200.
The CD200, despite taking rather good pictures, gave me another reason to hate Sony.
Their stubborn insistence on proprietary stuff extends to the DC adapter plug; they couldn't very well use a standard barrel plug - noooo, they had to have a flat type that you can't find in stores.
I wanted to build an external battery pack, since the camera had a tired LiIon battery that had been sitting on a shelf for the best part of five years. Since I had no way to source an appropriate plug, I cut the DC adapter's cable and fitted that to the external pack. I put bullet connections on the wires so that the plug could be switched around as needed, and for a time everything was good.
Then one day I got the polarity of the external pack wrong, and the digicam never came back to life.
I just see no good reasons why Sony deemed it unnecessary to add a $0.01 polarity protection diode in a digicam that originally cost $800.

And it's like that for many, many other things. Sony makes some rather good hardware, but always botches it with proprietary formats, DRM of some kind, dumb execution or hostility toward their own customers.
They could be the most successful electronic manufacturer in the world, but they are locked in their archaic ways and don't seem to want to face the truth.